Curiosity Killed the Cat
by pygmypuff8
Summary: Hermione should have known that her curiosity would someday lead to her finding out something she didn't want to know...
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Curiosity killed the cat was only supposed to be a challenge fic for Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, for the testing of the product Super-sticky Laughing Stickers, with the guidelines that the main character must see some sort of secret, must feel an overwhelming emotion other than laughter or happiness and that it must be 2000 words long. The more I wrote it, though, the more I found myself wanting to continue it. I'm still playing with the idea of continuing it and am not quite sure that I should, but if you want me to continue please tell me, as I really want to. Review, please, and enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me, I'm just playing around with them!**

**Edit: This was recently betaed, so if this looks a little different than before, that's why. Also a big thanks to Littleoldmeeee for betaing this!:)**

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Hermione knew that this was wrong. She knew that she shouldn't be following Ron, her boyfriend, out of the common room at two in the morning, but she just couldn't help herself.

When he had come sneaking down the staircase a few minutes ago, he had looked as if he were up to something, and if there was one thing that hadn't changed with Hermione over the years, it was her curiosity. She lowered the book she had been reading, watching him curiously.

It was curiosity that told her to keep silent and still in her chair before the fire.

It was curiosity that told her to go after Ron when she saw him sneaking out of the common room.

She was lucky that he seemed so preoccupied with wherever he was sneaking off to, as she was not the most light-footed person.

After about ten minutes of walking after her boyfriend, Hermione noticed that they were following the corridor leading to the kitchen, and she sighed, wishing she hadn't wasted her time in coming after him and planning to go back as soon as she saw him go into the kitchen.

Except he didn't.

He continued on past the portrait of the fruit basket and kept on walking until he came to an abandoned classroom a few passages on.

Her curiosity and suspicion now fully aroused yet again, Hermione endeavoured to make her tread even softer as Ron slipped into the classroom.

Stealthily, Hermione placed her foot in the way of the door just as it was about to swing shut, and peered into the room.

Though she had suspected something bad, she had no idea of just how bad it would be.

Ron was pressing a girl up against one of the desks, doing things that Ron had claimed he wasn't ready to do, no matter how much Hermione asked him to go further.

As she watched them, a feeling swept through her - it was so strong she felt paralysed. Heart-stopping, gut-clenching, throat-clogging betrayal swept through her, finally coming to rest in her chest, where it was swiftly joined by such an all-encompassing feeling of bitter anger, so intense, it almost swallowed the feeling of betrayal whole. Almost, but not quite.

Hermione was fairly sure she had let out a horrified gasp when she first saw them, but so absorbed were they in their illicit activities, that they didn't notice the faint sound.

Fuming, anger barely suppressing for the moment the tears she was sure would come later, she whispered a hex, and watched with malicious glee, as Ron jumped back with a cry, as his lips and the girl's turned into wriggling slugs stuck on their faces.

A horrified look on his face, his hands raised to his mouth, Ron looked around, and spotted Hermione. His eyes widened comically, and his face instantly turned bright red.

As he stepped away from the girl, Hermione recognized the rumpled hair and flushed, dismayed face of Padma Patil, Parvati's sister in Ravenclaw. Sneering at her, her angry side now completely taking over, she turned to Ron, who was desperately trying to say something through his wriggling lips - "wher….Mione…..whar ape you fooing?"

Rolling her eyes at his wrangled speech, and at the fact that his first words were not an apology, but a demand as to what she was doing, she glared at him:

"Well, Ronald," she spat. "I'm just saving you from what you told me you weren't ready to do, remember? As far as I recall, you claimed that you didn't feel ready touch me, as it made you too nervous, so I wouldn't want you to be more nervous than necessary," she finished angrily, almost screaming, not caring that Filch might hear them, pointing at the half-naked Padma, who was desperately trying to wriggle into her school shirt.

Finally seeming to realise the predicament he was in, Ron's face turned white and he mumbled, "I'p po sowwee Whemione…"

His voice trailed off, as he searched for something to say that wouldn't leave him looking like a complete prat.

Seeing him struggling, Hermione rolled her eyes and said bitterly, "Don't bother. We're over."

Although it hurt her to admit it, she could have sworn she saw a second of relief on his face at being released from her, as she swung around and made her way back to the common room. Relief - until he realised he still had no idea how to get the slugs to turn back into lips, and he started calling after her in panic.

Hermione ignored him. Now that her anger had worked itself out, it was quickly reverting back into the hurt and betrayal she had felt before the bitter fury had made its appearance.

Although she struggled hard to contain her tears, she couldn't help that the few that slipped out before she reached the common room.

When she finally saw the portrait of the Fat Lady, she heaved a sigh of relief and, whispering the password, paying no heed to the Fat Lady's grumblings at being awoken, she slipped into the common room, intent only on getting up to her dormitory, crawling into her bed, placing silencing charms around her bed and crying her heart out.

So focused was she on not letting the majority of her grief out before she reached her bed, that she didn't notice the dark figure sitting on one the chairs in front of the fire.

"Hermione? Are you okay?" the hesitant voice of Neville Longbottom, made her freeze with surprise.

Turning around slowly, she saw him unfolding his tall frame from the exact chair she had been sitting in earlier when she decided to follow Ron and saw-

With a muffled cry, she flung herself against him, arms blindly clutching around him for comfort.

Though he floundered a bit as she barrelled into him, he regained his composure and hesitantly put his arms around her back. When she gripped him even tighter and he felt the tell-tale wetness of tears trough his sweater, he started to soothingly rub her back, and carefully lowered them into the chair he had just vacated, settling Hermione on his lap.

Hermione had no idea how long she sat on Neville's lap, his hand rubbing soothing circles into her back, whilst she ruined his sweater with her tears, muffling her cries against his shoulder.

When the tears and grief finally started relenting, she realised that Neville had begun stroking her head as well as rubbing her back, and that he was cooing nonsense into her ears whilst rocking her back and forth.

She was unable to stop the watery smile that spread across her face at his actions, and she lifted her head from his shoulder, painfully aware now that she had rubbed her snot into his shoulder too, and that she had no handkerchief.

Seeing her predicament, Neville pulled out a handkerchief from his trouser pocket, and offered it to her, looking at her with concern.

Taking it gratefully, she blew her nose and wiped it, before stuffing it into her dressing gown pocket, intending to wash it before she sent it back to him.

As he shifted her around on his lap, she realised that the position she was in, wasn't exactly proper, as she was half reclining against his chest, and she knew that she wasn't the lightest of girls.

Apologising, her face flushing brilliantly, she climbed out of his lap.

Waving her apology away, he too stood up, towering above her, and asked softly, "want to tell me what this is all about?"

She considered telling him that he would find out in the morning, but then again, he had held her while she cried, so she thought he deserved a bit more than that. Feeling wrung out and fragile, she knew she had no more tears left right now so she nodded and opened her mouth to say what had happened. Suddenly, the common room door burst open and Ron came tumbling in, looking wildly around him for Hermione, who instinctively shifted closer to Neville. He, upon seeing her backing away from Ron, moved to stand half in front of her.

Ron, barely noticing Neville's protective stance, opened his mouth as soon as he saw Hermione and said, "that was a mean trick, Hermione, slugs for lips! If Padma hadn't known that spell and been able to do non-verbal spells, we would have had to go to Madame Pomfrey!"

Wiping his mouth, as though he could still feel the slugs wriggling around on his lips, he continued, oblivious to Hermione's face regaining its angry flush, and Neville suddenly catching on to the situation, "I'm sorry you had to find out this way Hermione, but did you honestly think that a bloke would be happy with someone like you? You hardly ever come out of your books, and the only thing you ever talk about is your books. Any bloke would be put off by that. And don't let me get started on your looks! You-"

That was as far as he got, for Neville had punched him squarely in the face, causing him to collapse to the floor with the force of the blow, leaving Neville grimacing and clutching his hand, but looking down on Ron in satisfaction.

Hermione, who had grown steadily paler at Ron's words, pushed down the fresh hurt, and rushed over to Neville to inspect his hand.

Seeing his hand already had a little bruising, she told him to wait for her, and hurried up to her dormitory, with barely a glance in Ron's direction, where he was groaning on the floor, clutching his nose.

In the dormitory, she opened her trunk and looked for the Dittany, ignoring the grumbles of the other girls in her dorm to be quiet.

Rushing back down to the common room, she glanced over to where Ron had been lying, only to find no sign of him. Seeing her confusion, Neville said adverb quietly, "I told him to get up to the dormitory before I hit him again."

Smiling ruefully, but gratefully at Neville, she knelt next to him and, soaking the bandage she had brought with her in the Dittany, she bandaged his hand, ignoring his hisses of pain.

As she finished, she glanced up at him to find him looking down at her, and, suddenly feeling embarrassed for some reason or other, she stood up quickly. She thanked him for what he had done, hurried up to her dormitory, and slipped into her bed, not hearing Neville's whispered, "it's no problem…"

Burrowing her head into her pillow, she expected to feel some leftover anger and hurt, but instead she only felt resignation.

She suspected that she had always known, deep down inside, that she and Ron were not meant to be. They had come together out of a single kiss in the heat of battle, and even before the kiss was over, she had known that something was not quite right. Assuming you're referring to the kiss at the Battle of Hogwarts, does this mean that Ron, Neville, Padma, etc. chose to return to Hogwarts to complete their seventh year, instead of just Hermione? Might want to clarify? She had tried to ignore it though, as everyone seemed to expect them to be together, and Ron had shown no hint that he was reluctant to be with her. They, and the others who had accepted Headmistress Mcgonagall's invitation had returned to Hogwarts, and she and Ron were still together, so she had assumed they were fine.

That was, until she, out of the belief that they ought to be doing more than simply making out, had tried, during one of their kissing sessions, to take it further, only to be stopped by a blushing Ron, who said he wasn't ready.

At the time, she had thought that it was adorable that she was the one who was ready to go further and he wasn't; their roles very reversed in comparison to what she had been expecting.

Only to find out now that it was all a farce, and that he just found her too repulsive to think of doing something like that with her.

She felt a familiar pang of hurt, similar to those from her childhood, where she had been the bookworm and children had teased her, the boys claiming she had cooties long after they had stopped saying that about other girls her age.

Pushing that feeling away, she concentrated on the warm feeling that Neville's comfort had given her.

Neville, who had finally grown out of his childish pudginess, as a boy and grown into a tall and lean man. Neville, whose confidence had blossomed after killing Nagini, but who was still afraid of girls and everything that that entailed. Neville, with his large, soothing hands, rubbing her back and stroking her head, murmuring comforting words into her ears, even when he hadn't known what was going on. Neville, who had stood up for her when Ron was saying such horrid things to her.

Falling asleep, Hermione dreamt of big, calm, comforting hands.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Hello people! Told you I would be continuing this story. Thank you for the reviews and follows and enjoy this chapter. Reviews are always loved.**

**Disclaimer: These characters don't belong to me, sadly.**

**Edit: Betaed by the wonderful Littleoldmeeee.**

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When Hermione woke up on the following morning, she had a massive headache, and her eyes felt dry and grimy. Shaking her head, thinking, she reminded herself that this was what happened when you cried at ungodly hours of the night, and then didn't wash your face.

She looked at her bedside clock, and realised it was still early, but still hurried to get dressed and down to breakfast, as she knew that Ron was a late sleeper, and even on a school day he would push it to the limit.

Washing her face and tugging on her robes, she thought over the events of last night (or rather, this morning). She didn't want to think that Ron had said such dreadful things, but she was choosing to believe that it was because he had panicked, not knowing what to say to her. He was never the most logical person in a crisis, so perhaps he had seen insults as his only way out of his predicament. When he sought her out to talk to her, as he undoubtedly would, she would tell him to grow up, but that she forgave him, that she knew that they hadn't been working out terribly well, and that she was glad it was all in the open now. She didn't think she would ever be on good footing with Padam again though, which was a shame, as she used to really like her.

Nodding determinedly at her reflection in the mirror, she grabbed her book bag, and hurried of to breakfast, hoping she would miss seeing Ron - although she had already decided to forgive him, she wasn't quite ready to face him yet.

Walking through the common room, she saw only a few of the other students desperately trying to finish homework that was due today, and, rolling her eyes and shaking her head, she made her way over to the common room door, only to be halted by a voice calling out behind her.

"Hey, Hermione! Wait up!"

Turning around, she saw Neville tumbling down the stairs, still struggling with his tie.

Shaking her head fondly at him - a little exasperated that although he had defeated Nagini and shown great bravery, he still struggled with his tie - she waved him over.

Abandoning his tie with a grin, he came to a stop in front of her and asked with a more serious voice, "you alright Hermione?"

Furrowing her brows as she fiddled with his tie, she considered his question. Her fingers worked on straightening it whilst she thought, until she gave up smoothing the tie down, and removed it from his neck, having to stand on her tippy-toes to get it over his head, which was considerably higher up than she was.

Despite the maelstrom of emotion she had felt the previous evening, she now only felt a tired resignation, and something close to quiet relief. She thought that the anger from last night was probably only brought on because even though they had been friends before they were together, Ron had not deigned to tell her that he didn't like her that way. She, at least, had liked him until she actually got him, then she found it was only a fading attraction, rather than the passion she had dreamed of. It also hadn't helped that he had called her ugly, playing on the scars of her childhood.

Flashing a half-surprised smile at Neville, she handed him back his newly fastened tie, which he promptly put around his neck and tightened. He then pulled his hands away so that she could straighten it, as she answered, "you know, I actually feel kind of relieved, I could sort of feel it coming, you know? I didn't know what but I knew something was going to happen... And thank you for comforting me last night, I really appreciate it."

As she said that last part, she flushed slightly, wondering at herself. Harry had comforted her loads of times when she was crying, and although Neville was not such a close friend, a friend was all he was. So why did she get such a strange feeling in her stomach whenever she thought of that?

When she finished her reply, and her hands had stopped straightening and smoothing his tie, Neville smiled at her and took her book bag, for which she was very grateful, really, thankful and not at all flustered about, as her bag was so heavy it was hurting her shoulders, and they made their way down to the Great Hall. (No those weren't butterflies in her stomach, she was just hungry).

Hermione had guessed right. Although there was only an hour before classes began, Ron (and a lot of other students, except for the Hufflepuffs, those guys were really hard workers) were not in the Great Hall, and Hermione was free to enjoy her breakfast. She made sure, though, to be done half an hour before classes started, and grabbed her book bag. She called goodbye to Neville, who had sat next to her and talked to her all through breakfast, and then made her way over to the Library, where she started on next week's homework.

When the bell rang, she hurriedly packed up her books and made her way over to her Potions class, the first lesson of the day.

Though Professor Slughorn gave this class now, she always connected Potions with Professor Snape, and each time she walked into the classroom, she was confused for a second, expecting to see Professor Snape's forbidding figure glaring over the class, only to find jolly Professor Slughorn in his place.

Though the man was competent, she never thought he had quite the talent or feel for Potions that Snape had had. She missed having a teacher who was more competent than she was, despite how he had treated her. After all, she suspected that she was a tiny bit better at Potions than Professor Slughorn.

Shrugging off such thoughts, she made her way into the classroom, only to stop dead in her tracks as she saw her usual table was already occupied by two familiar heads.

It was obvious that Harry knew what had happened, because as soon as he noticed Hermione standing there, he glanced pleadingly at her, before shooting a glance at Ron who was blushing furiously and sporting a magnificent broken nose and split lip, but refusing to look at her. Shaking her head slightly at Harry, mouthing the words 'not yet', she looked around the classroom for a seat that wasn't taken.

The only seat not taken, was the one next to Neville, who, as soon as he saw her glancing over the classroom, looking for a seat, waved her over and shuffled his things around a bit to make space for her.

Smiling gratefully at him, she made her way over to him and slid in next to him, just in time, as Professor Slughorn chose that moment to flounce into the classroom.

"Morning students! Today, and for the next few months, we are going to be preparing Polyjuice Potion. Now, who can tell me what Polyjuice Potion does?"

Rolling her eyes at his question, seeing as how she had brewed this in her second year, Hermione's hand shot up.

Beaming at her, Slughorn nodded his head for her to answer.

"Polyjuice Potion is a very complicated potion, requiring exact timing and measurements. If brewed correctly, it will allow the drinker to assume the form of another person temporarily."

Beaming even more brightly at her, Slughorn exclaimed, "correct Miss Granger, ten points to Gryffindor. Now, in this period I expect you to finish the first stage of the potion, after which we will leave it brewing for a week before handling it again. You may begin."

Motioning Neville to stay seated, she stood up to fetch the ingredients from the storeroom, bumping into Ron on the way, who looked awkwardly at her, opened his mouth as if to say something, then shook his head, grabbed his ingredients and walked back to his table.

Shaking her head at his stupidity and pride, Hermione gathered the ingredients she needed, inwardly laughing at the irony of brewing this six years after she had originally learned the potion.

Walking back to her table, where Neville was waiting for her, having already gotten out the equipment they would be using, she couldn't help but feel a pang of fear at working with Neville. Though he had improved at Potions now that Snape was no longer there to torture him, no one would say that he was a genius at Potions, no matter what Professor Sprout said about Herbology and Potions going together.

She set out the ingredients on the table and told Neville to start cutting up the leeches into pieces that were all identical in size, certain that he wouldn't be able to mess it up.

They worked in a comfortable silence, only broken by Hermione's quiet instructions to Neville, and cautioning him when he sliced the ingredients too thinly or thickly.

After Potions, in which they had finished the first stage of their Polyjuice Potion, (Neville had surprisingly not messed it up), Hermione was on her way to double Arithmancy. She was so completely focused on reviewing her homework, that she didn't notice Ron walking up beside her, only looking around when she heard his quiet voice saying, "Hermione, could I maybe speak to you for a moment?"

Looking around, realising she was nearer to the Arithmancy classroom than she had thought, and still had five minutes until class started, she nodded once, and followed him into a more secluded corridor.

"Look," he started, his hand awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck like he always did when he was nervous, "I know that what I said yesterday was really shitty and, and I just want you to know that I didn't really mean any of that, I was just scared really, and panicking, lots and lots of panicking."

Hermione watched him, almost amused at his fumbling with the words to apologize to her. Holding out a hand to stop him before he said something that might actually get him in trouble, she said, "look, Ron. I think we both felt from the start that this relationship was not 'right.' Of course I wish you'd told me about how you felt earlier, instead of going behind my back and then insulting me when you panicked, but I'm not really mad at you. A bit irritated, yes, but I could never really stay mad at you. You're mean, you can't handle emergencies and you're selfish. But you're also kind, brave and my friend."

After that little speech, Ron's face was so red that he looked like he was on fire. Grinning sheepishly at her, he pulled her into a one-armed hug, then hurried away, joining Harry, who had been watching them from the other end of the corridor with a relieved smile.

Smiling at Harry, she turned around, intending to go straight to Arithmancy, but instead walking into Neville, who was watching her with a strange expression.

"Alright?" he asked, nodding towards where Ron and Harry were walking away.

"Yeah," she smiled, "we're alright."

Falling into step next to her, even though Hermione knew he had double Divination with the boys now, he asked, "you're not together anymore though, right? I mean, you and Ron?"

Frowning at his curiously flushed face, and (even more curiously), feeling the urge to flush herself, she shook her head. "Of course not."

Nodding, and wearing a half-pleased smile on his face, Neville said, "good."

Then he turned around and made his way to Divination, leaving a very perplexed Hermione behind him.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Hello! Here is my next chapter! Read and enjoy! And, review, please review. All and any comments are treasured. :)**

**Disclaimer: These characters don't belong to me.**

**Thanks to the amazing Littleoldmeeee for betaing this!**

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Whilst in Arithmancy, Hermione couldn't help but feel distracted; no matter how much she tried to concentrate on the class, she couldn't seem to pay attention for more than ten seconds at a time, even though she knew that they were doing really important, hard work, for which you had to be totally focused.

Hermione struggled through double Arithmancy, constantly having to remind herself that she had to pay attention, and yanking her mind away from subjects that she really shouldn't be thinking about - like how flustered she had been when Neville had asked her if she and Ron were still together, and his broad shoulders as he walked away….

No! She had to pay attention! Pinching herself, she once again made a tremendous attempt to concentrate on what Professor Vector was saying.

Hermione heaved a huge sigh of relief when the double period finally ended. Her brow relaxed its savage frowning, and a pounding headache made itself known - a testament to the enormous effort she had been expending in order to concentrate.

Grateful that she now had a free period now, Hermione made her way to the library to get a head start on her homework, - doubly thankful that she had the free period just before lunch, so that the headache had some time to dissipate.

Upon reaching the library, she made her way over to her usual table, which stood in an empty corner of the library, directly under a window which threw sunbeams onto the polished wood. As she was ambling along, reading over the homework she had to start, she didn't immediately notice the figure sitting at her usually empty table, until her gaze absently swept carelessly over the table, automatically scanning to see if anyone else was there.

There never was.

Only today, there was someone.

Hermione stared, flabbergasted, as Neville looked up, noticed her and offered her a shy smile, before waving her over, patting the bench beside him.

Shaking off her shock, Hermione returned the smile hesitantly, as the object of her distraction moved his books around to make space for her.

Blushing slightly at her thoughts, which were now having a rather in-depth discussion of the wonderful broadness of Neville's shoulders, and how they would feel beneath her hands, Hermione slid into the seat beside him, bending down to her book bag to retrieve her books and quill.

Neville and Hermione worked in a comfortable silence next to each other for about ten minutes, before Neville turned to her and, sheepishly, asked her if she could help him with his Transfiguration essay on Animagi, and How to Become One, as he was having rather a hard time with it.

Hermione smiled and nodded, glad that they were once again on familiar ground, with none of those strange feelings she'd been having recently, especially as she and Ron had only officially been over since last night and it was way too soon to be feeling this way about another guy, especially Neville.

Taking the book from which he had been working and flipping through the pages until she came to the most useful section that she had found a lot of information from, she started explaining how each wizard had their own inner animal.

Explaining the technicalities however, which she had mastered in her fifth year, took far too little of her concentration, and while Neville gazed attentively at her, she found herself with far too much leisure time to examine him.

Staring at him, she considered how he had changed, from the chubby, round boy she had gotten to know in first year, to this.

'This,' meaning a distractingly chiselled jaw, which was very distracting, a handsome-yet-scruffy look she had no idea how he was managing to pull off, very strong, broad shoulders which almost made her want to touch them, just to feel their broadness and strength, down to his torso, which she was sure was muscled and…..

"Hermione?"

Hermione was startled out of her assessment, when Neville, noticing that she was talking on autopilot, and almost - almost - appeared to be checking him out (though he was sure she wasn't; he probably just had a stain or something on his robes, yes that would be it - why else would she look at him like that..?) touched her arm gently with a look of concern.

Blushing like mad when she realised that she had been caught staring at him, she finished up her explanation by saying eloquently, "so, um yes, that's, that's that."

Feeling as though her face was on fire, and ignoring Neville's adorable (shut up!) confused face, she glanced desperately at her empty wrist, exclaimed, "well, would you look at the time?!" and made her way swiftly out of the library, mortified that she had been caught blatantly checking Neville out.

She was in such a rush to get out of the library, that she didn't notice Neville's defeated sigh and wistful face - nor the way that he whispered softly to himself, "get a grip, she will never like you that way, stop hoping stupid..."

Leaving Neville behind, Hermione hurriedly made her way over to an abandoned classroom, determined to get some work done where she wouldn't have any, ahem, distractions, in the form of adorable Neville's or otherwise.

However, as good as her intentions were to get her work done, and not be distracted, almost without her noticing it, her mind wandered away to Neville again.

She couldn't understand why she was so obsessed with him all of a sudden, she had never noticed his broad shoulders, his gentle hands, or his wide-open and trusting face before. Well, she had, but not like this.

Well, you haven't been held with those self-same gentle hands, or leaned against those broad shoulders before, have you? her inner voice niggled.

Shaking her head to dispel the images of last night that the voice had reminded her of, she argued that she was just being ridiculous. And illogical. She had seen Neville every day for the past three months and he hadn't had this effect on her.

Also, she reminded herself, most importantly, he was just a friend, nothing more. Absolutely nothing more.

Something more to consider was that she and Ron had hardly broken up, and even though she knew in her heart that they had never done anything, other than kissing, and nothing more, Neville didn't know that, and he would think she was very fickle indeed, if just the previous night she had been crying on his shoulder about Ron, and the next day found she was attracted to him.

Not that she was planning on telling him, of course, Hermione thought, blushing yet again, (this was the most she had ever blushed in the span of twenty-four hours, she was sure) telling him, that is.

Startled yet again by the bell - she really had to stop doing that - she grudgingly collected her books, irritated that she hadn't made any progress on her homework, at all, and made her way to lunch.

Walking into the Great Hall, she spotted Ron and Harry already eating, and made her way over to them. Dumping her bag on the ground, she slid in beside Harry, grabbing a chicken-and-mayo sandwich.

She was about to bite into her sandwich, when an elbow to her side made her look at Harry in annoyance. He, ignoring her irritated expression, looked nervously at her and asked, "are you okay? I mean with Ron and all? He told me what happened and what was said, but are you really okay?"

Her irritation softening, as she realised that Harry, (as usual), was just concerned about her, she smiled gently at him and, gesturing over to Ron, who was laughing uproariously at some joke that Seamus had told, said, "yeah I really am fine. Me and Ron were never really meant to be together, we fought way too much. We're better off as friends anyway. And," she said when she noticed Harry open his mouth, "I told him that as well, so no worries about that."

Smiling gratefully at her, glad that his two best friends were not fighting anymore, Harry gave her another careful glance, patting her awkwardly on the back, before turning back to Ron and Seamus, eager to hear the joke that had them almost crying with laughter.

Smiling fondly at them, Hermione concentrated on eating her sandwich, and keeping her mind away from a specific someone.

Just as she was taking the last bite of her sandwich, and nodding gratefully to Harry when he offered to fill her goblet with pumpkin juice, Neville slid in beside Hermione. She tensed almost instinctively, but then tried to pretend she hadn't.

Frowning at her, Neville spooned some chicken and mash onto his plate, before leaning closer to Hermione and whispering, "look, Hermione, if I did or said something to make you uncomfortable, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to." He paused, looking at her, helplessly. "Or if this is about what happened last night, we don't ever have to mention it again?"

Shivering slightly as his breath tickled her ear, she glanced at his face, and seeing nothing there but remorse, all the awkwardness she had felt in his presence faded. She smiled and shook her head, saying, "no, don't be sorry. I was just being silly. And I'm really grateful for you for what you did last night."

Just then the bell rang. Smiling one last time at Neville, she grabbed her book bag and made her way to Transfiguration, only to be joined by Harry, Ron, Neville, Seamus and Dean.

Mentally slapping herself for forgetting that they all had this class together, Hermione happily joined in their conversation, and promised herself she would stop being so silly, at least for today.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: I feel a bit... meh about this whole chapter... but it's been a while since I've updated and I felt guilty so tried to finish this chapter. Oh well, hope you enjoy and review please!**

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me, they all belong to J.K. Rowling.**

**Huge thanks to Littleoldmeee for betaing my work**

Hermione really tried to honour her promise.

Every time her mind even hinted at drifting off into dangerous and distracting avenues (aka Neville), she would shake her head firmly and steer her mind determinedly away from it and onto safer subjects, for example: how she was going to act normal around Ron again?

Although she had forgiven him for what he had done to her, she still felt a little uncomfortable talking to him, which left poor Harry in the middle of them, half-heartedly trying to keep a conversation going.

At first, Hermione had been disappointed that Harry had chosen to take Ron's side, when he had made her cry as dreadfully as she had. But then she realised that Ron had probably not told Harry that she'd cried, probably because he hadn't seen her crying himself,. The only times he had seen her that night had been when she'd smilingly turned his and Padma's lips into slugs, and in the common room after she'd already cried her eyes out. Granted, any idiot could've seen that she'd been crying if they had been looking closely, but the only lighting in the common room had been the flickering fire, and he probably hadn't been looking to closely at her face anyway, scared of by what he would see there.

Her last class of the day had been Transfiguration, and she had never been so glad that Professor McGonagall's classes were always hard work, and that it required the strictest concentration, otherwise she would not have been able to keep her mind off Neville.

At least Neville was two years behind her on this class, as he had dropped out after OWL's, but had retaken the exams following the war, and finally joined Professor McGonagall's class with an Exceeds Expectations.

Being the only one the class being able to turn her desk into a pig by the end of the period, Hermione was awarded ten points, and was feeling so pleased with herself, and the world in general, that she even managed to talk to Ron semi-normally, even though she still felt slightly upset with him, causing a big smile to spread across Harry's face.

Talking and chatting cheerfully, the trio made their way to the Great Hall for dinner.

As she sat down, Hermione realised her stomach was growling, and ignoring the boys shocked expressions, ( as she usually did not eat a lot) she loaded her plate up with potatoes, chicken and salad.

The salad seemed to break through Harry and Ron's surprise, as they began protesting loudly, saying that if she was going to eat a lot, she might as well leave the rabbit food.

That, of course, got Hermione all up in a tizzy, and she began lecturing the boys on the importance of a balanced diet and making sure to eat enough from each food group, and, Ronald, you should really stop eating so much fried food, it'll make your face break out in pimples -

Ron retaliated angrily, by asking her, "do you see a pimple on me? Huh? Well, do you?" whilst waving around a fried chicken leg.

Smirking at him, glad that they were able to fall right back into their routine, Hermione answered, "yes, in fact, I can. Right there on your forehead," she pointed at his forehead, where, indeed, a massive red pimple was making itself known.

Raising his hand to feel at his forehead, he opened his mouth to deny it, but then his questing hand abruptly came into contact with the raised bump. He closed his mouth huffily, mumbling accusations under his breath that Hermione had placed a spell on him to make pimples magically appear, and all other sorts of ridiculous claims that had Harry shaking with laughter and Hermione smiling superiorly at them both.

She was so occupied with the antics of her friends that she didn't notice Neville sitting down across from her until he drew attention to himself by asking her if she could please pass the pumpkin juice, please.

Startled, Hermione only stared at him in bewilderment, until he repeated his question with a confused frown on his face, then asked her if she was alright.

Feeling a flush coming on for the nth time today, Hermione resolutely pushed it down, and replied as she handed over the ice-cold pitcher of pumpkin juice, "o-of course, I'm fine. Just- just didn't expect to see you there, is all."

Looking as if he didn't quite believe her, Neville nonetheless nodded, accepting her answer and pouring his pumpkin juice.

After that, no matter how hard Hermione tried to join into the Harry and Ron's conversation, she couldn't quite manage it, and it wasn't long before she was surreptitiously stealing glances at Neville.

It was then that she noticed that Neville, between eating his food and chatting, would glance over at Ron with a very strange expression, somewhere between dislike, disgust and confusion.

Catching one of these looks, Hermione fell to wondering what on earth could have put it there - what could Ron have done to merit that kind of expression from kind, mild tempered Neville of all people? It's not like they were in a fig-

Mentally slapping herself, she realised that of course Neville had a reason to dislike Ron, after he had seen her bawl her eyes out over him yesterday, he must've felt protective about her, and then Ron had said those awful things to her and then he had punched Ron and of course!

But, she had forgiven Ron, and therefore shouldn't Neville forgive Ron as well, if she had?

Making up her mind to talk to Neville, and tell him that he shouldn't hold it against Ron, she finished up her dinner. She would explain that she'd forgiven him, and that he was prone to saying things in the heat of the moment that he didn't really mean.

Hurrying along to catch up with the boys, with Neville tagging along behind (_nope, that's not butterflies, it's not!)_ they made their way to the common room.

Once in the common room, and seeing Harry and Ron busy with their homework, she sat down next to Neville, and turned to him, intent on telling him her viewpoint on the whole Ron saga.

Turning to him, she saw him busy with the self-same Transfiguration homework she had helped him with earlier.

Telling herself sternly not to get side-tracked, as she could feel her traitorous mind going back to gazing at his handsome profile, she called softly, "Neville, I need to talk to you."

Turning around to give her his full attention, Neville motioned for her to continue.

"You've been kind of, off with Ron today, and I know it's probably about last night, but I just want you to know, I've forgiven him, and everything's okay now."

Frowning slightly, Neville answered, "I know you've forgiven him, I'm just not sure if I have."

So saying, Neville gathered up his work, shot one last disgruntled glance at Ron, and made his way over to the stairs and up to his dormitory, leaving a frowning Hermione behind him.

Shaking her head, Hermione decided that she'd had enough drama this past day to last her for at least a month, and she was not eager to go searching for more.

Putting Neville's strange behaviour and the weird feelings she'd been getting about him all day now out of her head, she concentrated on her Potions essay, determined to get it done before she went to bed tonight.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: So, I'm feeling much better about this chapter than the last one, hope you like it as well! Enjoy, and please review.**

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognise belongs to J.K. Rowling.**

**Thanks to Littleoldmeee for betaing! You're amazing! **

Over the next few days, Hermione noticed Neville's continued strange behaviour; how one minute he would be laughing and talking with Harry, Dean or Seamus one minute, but gradually become quieter as Ron joined the conversation, staring at him with the same expression of disgust, dislike and anger that she had noticed on Monday.

The first few times it happened, Ron hardly noticed anything wrong with Neville, though Harry was a little more perceptive, and he looked at Neville in concern after the third time it happened. Ron, obtuse as he was, didn't catch the subtle signs that Neville was actively avoiding him, until Harry pointed it out to him.

At first, Ron tried to play it off as nothing, but after Harry had pointed it out to him, Hermione could tell that it was making him increasingly uncomfortable, though he laughed and talked louder than ever, like he was trying to cover his embarrassment.

Ron may have been slow to read the subtler signs of avoidance and dislike, but he was far from stupid. He knew _why_ Neville was avoiding him, and that it was because of all the things that Neville had heard him tell Hermione. Ron even knew that he fully deserved that dislike, and he was fully prepared to apologise.

He just didn't know how.

So uncomfortable had the conversation become every time Ron and Neville were near each other, that Hermione and Harry decided it was time to step in and do something, as it - they couldn't go on like this.

They cornered Ron in the common room on Wednesday evening after dinner, and, judging by the resigned expression on his face, he was not surprised.

Harry cleared his throat uncomfortably and smoothed his hands down his trousers, clearly not looking forward to this conversation. He looked around the common room, checking to see if anyone else was paying any attention. Nobody was, except for Ginny, who was watching them. When she had heard about the slug incident and what Ron had said to Hermione, she had glared coldly at her brother, sneering, "Serves you right."

She had cooled her ire a bit when Hermione had explained that she and Ron had worked it out, and that he had apologised, but she was still behaving somewhat frostily towards her brother.

Seeing Ginny looking over at them, Harry waved to her to join them. She walked over to them and plopped down next to Harry, curling up against his side like a cat. She ignored the widening of her brother's eyes and the red tinge on his cheeks, instead looking coolly at him - daring him to say something.

Wisely, Ron chose to stay silent, though he did look a little sick with nerves.

Looking over at Harry and Hermione's serious expressions, Ginny observed dryly, "This is about how my idiot of a brother offended Neville through what he said to Hermione, isn't it?"

Hermione nodded, though she rolled her eyes at Ginny's matter of fact tone.

"Yes, it is. Ron needs to apologise, but, judging by his fumbling apology to me, he's not the best at it. And I doubt Neville's going to be as forgiving as I was," Hermione answered Ginny's question.

"I can't imagine what Neville's offended about," Ginny said wryly. "How can he choose between Ron cheating on you, calling you ugly, or making her cry her eyes out - it's a close call." Every word was hitting Ron hard, making his lightly flushed face turn dangerously red.

Hermione opened her mouth to berate Ginny - she had told Ginny about her crying and Neville comforting her in confidence - but had made promise she would not tell anyone else about it, but before she could make a sound, Harry burst out, "you made her cry? Why didn't you tell me about that?" he demanded Ron, "and you never told me you said she was ugly!"

Ron, now looking fairly miserable, said plaintively, "I didn't realise she cried! Honestly! And- and I was ashamed about what I said to Hermione okay? And, Hermione," here he looked pleadingly at her, "you know I didn't mean any of that, right? I was just being stupid and not thinking about what I was saying, and I really _never_ meant to hurt you."

Just then Neville's voice sounded from behind Hermione, the anger clear in his voice, "that's not an excuse, and you know it. You should at least give her a gift or something to say sorry. It's what I would do."

At that last sentence, he looked down, a red flush on his cheeks. He looked up again, though, when Ron said, "Look, mate, I know I was wrong, and I'm sorry. You were well within your rights to punch me, and I understand that you're still angry with me. Hell, _I'm_ angry with me for hurting Hermione, but I... I really am sorry, and I was planning to take her to the bookstore on the next Hogsmeade weekend, so that she can pick out a book for herself."

Still looking a bit miffed, but nodding reluctantly, Neville held out his hand for Ron to shake, and, relieved, Ron shook it.

Looking at the rest of them, his gaze lingering on Hermione, Neville nodded to them, and went to sit beside Seamus and Dean who were playing chess, where Seamus was losing terrifically against Dean.

Hermione smiled at Ron, proud of him for owning up to his mistakes, and for mending the friendship. Harry looked equally as relieved as Ron, though he still cuffed Ron over the head, looking meaningfully at Hermione when Ron glared at him.

Hermione was happy; her two best friends were fine, Neville and Ron were fine-ish, and Ginny was sitting with Harry looking intently at her-

Wait. Why was Ginny looking at her like that, with that shrewd smile on her face, as if she knew something Hermione did not? Tilting her head in question, Ginny's smile - no, smirk, it was definitively a smirk - widened, and climbing off the sofa, leaving a protesting Harry behind (much to Ron's relief, he had been watching her and Harry warily, as if afraid of what they might do), she beckoned to Hermione to follow her, and went up to their dorm room, Hermione trailing behind.

Once in the dorm, Ginny flopped down onto her bed, and patted the spot beside her. Still watching her cautiously, as Ginny's smirk had turned decidedly devilish, Hermione sat down next to her.

Practically bouncing with excitement, Ginny's grin, if possible, widened and she said conspiratorially, "so, you and Neville, huh?"

Mind going blank for a second, before racing around, trying to see if she'd given herself away, Hermione spluttered intelligently, "n-no I-I'm- what are you- how- why do you-"

Holding up her hand to cut off the rest of Hermione's eloquent speech, Ginny grinned like the Cheshire Cat, and said, "I knew he liked you when he said he'd buy you a gift, and then looked down blushing, but I wasn't sure about you until just now."

Blushing about how she had given herself away, (and she had thought she would never lose her cool, that just shows what she knew), Hermione asked hesitantly, her voice embarrassingly small and squeaky, "you, you think he likes me?"

Rolling her eyes at Hermione's obtuseness, Ginny nodded emphatically, and said somewhat condescendingly, "of course! Why wouldn't he? You were the one that always helped him in Potions, and you have always been kind to him, even when nobody else was. It also doesn't hurt that you're quite pretty."

Hermione just shook her head - as a boy had never actually told her that she was pretty, though plenty of girls had, she wanted to hear an actual boy say it, out loud. And he would have to mean it, he shouldn't joke about it, like plenty of boys had done before too. It also hadn't helped that Ron had said she was ugly, even if he had said he didn't mean it, there had to be some grain of truth to it, she thought sadly.

"But you are pretty, we've been through this when you first started dating my brother!" Ginny exclaimed, wondering how her friend could possibly not see it, "Just because my idiot of a brother is too stupid to realise it, doesn't mean you aren't pretty."

Shaking her head mournfully, Hermione said, "No, I'm not. My hair is too bushy, and I'm too bookish. Boys like girls who aren't bookish and who like dressing up and make-up, and who are confident and pretty like you."

Shaking her head at Hermione depreciating tone, Ginny said, "sure, you're not breathtakingly beautiful, but, you know what, there are very few girls that are." She shuffled closer, slipping a comforting arm around Hermione. "Besides, your hair gives you character. And any boy who doesn't like bookish girls are just offended that someone else are smarter than they are, and you wouldn't want a boy like that anyway."

Smiling gently, as Hermione had begun to look a bit despondent, Ginny said, "and, don't worry, Neville isn't one of those boys."

Laughing at Hermione's red face and her stammering that she didn't like Neville and that he didn't like her, Ginny resolved that she would make these two great people, who were both regrettably really shy, see sense, and get together.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Sorry, sorry sorry. I'm really sorry this chapter is so late, but with school, and getting everything betaed (to give you all an easier reading experience, so that you don't have to see my horrible mistakes) so I'm really sorry, but here's the sixth chapter. For any of you following my other story, Deceptions, I'm sorry, but I have to tell you that I'm not going to be updating that story for a while, as I want to finish this story, I'm part of a lot of challenges, and I'm planning on taking part in the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, for those of you who don't know). So yeah, enjoy and review please! **

**Thanks to my amazing beta Littleoldmeeee for betaing this between her busy, busy life. You're amazing!**

**Disclaimer: These characters don't belong to me.**

**O.o.O.o.O.o.O**

Hermione couldn't get Ginny's words out of her head. The idea that Neville liked her was wonderful, uplifting, and downright terrifying.

She knew that she had been having some, um, _inappropriate_ thoughts about him, but she doubted that he was having any similar thoughts about her. Gosh, just the thought that he could be thinking about her in that way, was enough to make her blush like a tomato; not a wise thing to do when you were sitting five feet away from the person you're thinking about.

Looking quickly around the breakfast table, she was relieved to see that nobody had noticed her momentary lapse of control over her thoughts. Except for Ginny, - she was sitting next to Harry, who was opposite Hermione - and she was watching her knowingly. She then looked meaningfully at Neville, who, unaware of the scrutiny, was peacefully eating his toast.

Rolling her eyes at Ginny's foolishness, Hermione focused her attention back on to her breakfast, which consisted of two pieces of toast, generously plied with jam. Sinking her teeth into her strawberry-jam covered toast, Hermione deliberately put all thoughts of Neville and Ginny out of her mind, and focused on her first lesson of the day: Arithmancy.

She finished her toast and quickly drained her glass of pumpkin juice, before grabbing her bag. She forced herself to ignore Harry and Ron's pleas that she stay just a little while longer and Ginny's knowing eyes following her out of the hall, and instead made her way to her first class, homework in hand as she read it over, looking for any mistakes.

She was so absorbed in the second question, (which she might have gotten wrong - she wasn't sure -maybe she should take out her book and check?), that she didn't notice how slowly she was walking. When she got to class, the last people were just walking into the classroom, and she was lucky to get in and get a seat before the Professor arrived.

After Arithmancy, (her problem was correct, thank Merlin!) she made her way to Charms class, which she shared with Harry, Ron and, of course, Neville.

During Charms, Ginny's words again took the forefront in her mind, no matter how much she tried to concentrate on Professor Flitwick's lesson about flotation charms and what to do if you ever found yourself in the middle of a big body of water and unable to swim, however unlikely that may be. She kept shooting glances at Neville, ecstatic when she caught him looking at her, but also scared out of her mind that he would notice that she was looking at him even when he wasn't looking at her.

All day long, Ginny's words floated across her mind, at times making her smile brightly in the middle of a conversation, causing Harry and Ron to look at her strangely, and other times making her frown ferociously, sure that Ginny was mistaken and she was just getting her hopes up for nothing.

Hermione was utterly confused by these emotions, as she had never felt this sort of dizzying feeling in her stomach before, like she was teetering on the edge of the cliff, scared, but also strangely elated, as if she wanted to fall. She didn't understand it. Her mind had always been able to logically classify her emotions, placing them in neat little boxes in her mind. Whilst that may sound strange for some people, Hermione liked the idea that she had complete control over her life and emotions, and that she was always able to see a logical way out of it.

These feelings however, these, she was loathe to give in to the cliché phrase, but these warm, melting, mind numbing feelings, were terrifying, but at the same time completely addictive, and proving impossible to place in her neat little boxes.

All through Thursday and Friday, she was half in a daze, not really paying attention to what her friends said, though she always made sure to put the disturbing thoughts out of her mind long enough to concentrate in classes. Harry and Ron noticed, and they asked her multiple times if she was alright.

Dissatisfied with her distracted insistence that she was fine, they tried to work out what was wrong with her.

After two days of puzzling, wondering, and whispered discussions, (which were hastily hushed when Hermione came within earshot), they were still unable to figure out what was wrong with her. Finally, on Friday afternoon, they went to Ginny, after class had ended, intent on figuring out Hermione's strange behaviour.

Approaching Ginny in the common room, where she was sitting in an armchair in front of the fire doing her homework, Hermione being safely away in the library, Harry plopped down on the seat next to Ginny, leaving Ron to take the armchair across from them.

Looking up, Ginny looked up inquiringly at Harry, silently asking if he was just sitting there, or if he wanted something.

Clearing his throat, Harry began, "Hermione's been acting a bit out of it lately, and we were wondering if you had any idea why…?"

He trailed off uncertainly, taking in Ginny's raised eyebrow and slightly exasperated smile. Sighing and pushing her fiery red hair back behind her ear from where it had slipped out, she said, somewhat condescendingly, "boys, boys, boys. You're all so clueless!" Ginny rolled her eyes, like she couldn't believe the depth of their stupidity, "Hermione's in love, you dolts."

Ginny rolled her eyes again at the absolutely stupefied expressions on their faces.

"I-in love?!" Ron spluttered inelegantly, his face incredulous, "b-but, w-we only broke up five days ago!"

"Fine, maybe she doesn't know it yet, but she is - she's too sensible to stay hung up on you forever." She took pity on Ron's red face, and added, "And besides, you both agreed you're not each other's type."

Laughing at her brother's red face, she turned back to Harry, who had been strangely silent during that whole exchange.

Harry's face had a bemused expression on it, as if the idea of Hermione being in love with any one, was completely mind-boggling. In fact, his mouth was hanging open, his face wearing a thoroughly confused expression, making him look decidedly stupid.

Giving Harry a fond pat on the cheek, making his mouth snap shut, she remarked, "don't do that Harry, you're making yourself look stupid, and I know you aren't."

The boys, Ron included, as he had been thoroughly shamed by Ginny's words, were speechless for a while, Ginny serenely continuing with her homework.

Finally seeming to snap out of the stupor Ginny's words had put him in, Harry shook his head, his bemused expression still firmly on his face, and said hesitantly, "Ginny, are you quite sure that Hermione is in love? I mean, Ron's right, it's only been five days, nobody can fall in love that quickly. And, even if she had, who would it be?"

Blowing her hair crossly out of her face, (it had slipped out behind her ear again; she should probably tie it up), she looked at Harry and Ron, who were both staring at her with questioning and bemused expressions, and threw her hands up in the air, exasperated.

"Honestly, you two! Are you completely blind? Who do you think she'd be in love with? And no, it's not one of you."

Seeing that they were both still utterly bewildered, she sighed and elaborated, "Okay, let me help you... Who in this castle has protected, defended, comforted and stood up for Hermione this whole week?"

She watched their faces impatiently, waiting for them to catch on. Harry worked it out the quickest, his face transforming into a mask of incredulity.

"Neville?" he half-whispered, his eyes widening comically beneath his glasses.

Ignoring Ron's gasp of realization, Ginny nodded emphatically and said, "of course! Who else!?"

Ron butted in, "b -but, Neville?"

Looking around to see if anyone was paying them any particular attention, (no-one was), Ginny leaned forward a bit, prompting Harry and Ron to do the same, and said, "Yes. And as they're both too shy to act on their feelings for each other," she ignored Ron's gagging when she said the word _feelings_, "I have a plan to get them together."

Smiling, looking very much pleased with herself, Ginny sat back to watch their expressions.

Harry wore a half-grin, pleased at the thought of Hermione and Neville being happy, but still a little apprehensive at the thought of Hermione being in love. Ron was looking neither pleased nor displeased, but rather somewhere in between.

Clearing his throat again, Harry said, "So, what's this plan?"

Smiling, her eyes lighting up with the mischief Harry loved so much about her, Ginny said conspiratorially, "okay, so you know the Hogsmeade weekend coming up tomorrow? Well I thought-"

"Wait, I can't help with any plans concerning Hogsmeade weekend," Ron said, his face colouring slightly, "Me... me and Padma are going out on a date tomorrow."

Tilting her head at him, as if she wanted to determine how sincere he was about Padma, she nodded, before turning back to Harry and explaining to him her plan for the next day.


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: So, here it is, the next chapter. I'm not going to apologise over the time between updates, as I've already explained my reasons in the previous chapter, but I sincerely wished I could update more, thought that is just not possible at this time. So, without further ado, enjoy and please review and tell me what you think.**

**Massive thanks to my awesome beta and biggest supporter, Littleoldmeeee. You are absolutely amazing.**

**Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me.**

**O.o.O.o.O.o.O**

After Ginny finished telling Harry about her plan to get Neville and Hermione together, (which involved more than a little deviousness), she tilted her head, looking as though something quite important had just occurred to her. She turned to Ron and said, an almost accusing note in her voice, "Ron, I know that you want to go on a date with Padma tomorrow, but you promised Hermione that you would go with her to the bookshop to buy her a book."

Startled, Ron looked up from where he had been struggling with homework, and, shaking his head as if to clear it (he had been very deeply embroiled in the fascinating work on flotation charms), he said defensively, "I know Ginny, and I intend to follow through. My plan was to go with her to get a book first, and then meet Padma later on at the Three Broomsticks."

Ginny nodded slowly at his words, before saying, with a mischievous light in her eyes, "Ron, would you be adverse to, let's say, maybe letting Neville take her to the bookshop instead? I mean," she continued hastily when he opened his mouth to object, "you don't really like books, do you? And if you're worried that Hermione will be angry, just leave it to me. I'll talk to her."

Seeing that his sister was determined to get her way, Ron just shook his head resignedly, almost wishing he could be there when Ginny talked to Hermione, just to see her reaction. She should be careful, he thought, while listening to her work out the finer details of her plan; Hermione really didn't like her life to meddled with. She was an independent witch, and if Ginny didn't know that by now, she had a surprise coming for her...

**O.o.O.o.O.o.O**

Hermione slammed the thick tome she had been reading shut, then looked around guiltily, scanning her immediate surroundings for Madam Pince. She had been known to throw people out of the library for as minor a thing as holding a book too tightly. Hermione didn't know what she would do if she saw her, Hermione, (who was usually the epitome of handling books with respect, and one the main reasons Madam Pince tolerated her in the library when all other students were sleeping or outside), handling a book with less than her own high standards of respect. To be fair, Hermione would usually have been as scandalised as Madam Pince at someone mistreating her precious books, but today was not a normal day for her.

That whole week her feelings had been all in a tizzy, and whilst usually she was glad for the weekend, (as, despite popular opinion, she did need her rest, and the weekend was her favourite time of the week - it wasn't Monday, like some - ahem Ron, Harry - people thought), this weekend was Hogsmeade weekend, and she knew that Ginny was up to something.

Ginny might have thought that she was being very sneaky, but Hermione had known her for seven years, and she knew how Ginny acted when she was up to something. For instance, she was making a point of asking Hermione where she was going each time she left the common room, and she had noticed that Ginny seemed overly interested in what her plans were for the Hogsmeade weekend, asking her if she had any specific place she wanted to go.

Yes, there was no doubt Ginny thought she was being very sneaky, but Hermione knew better. To other people it probably looked like harmless curiosity but Hermione hadn't been born under a rock. They didn't call her the brightest witch of her age for nothing.

Realising that she had been staring at the closed cover of her book for about five minutes, she sighed, packing up her books and returning the books she had finished with to their designated space. Making her way out of the library, she waved cheerily at Madam Pince where she was restacking some books, who looked at her suspiciously over her horn-rimmed glasses, watching her with an eagle's eye, until she was out of the library.

Walking back to the common room, Hermione shivered - she hadn't realised how dark it had become while she had been cooped up in the library. Increasing her pace, she held her book bag close to her body, ready to use it as a shield, while her other hand slipped into her sleeve where she held her wand.

Whilst there weren't as many attacks in the hallways as there once were, Hermione was still jittery about walking around alone after dark, so ingrained was it in her that Muggleborn witches and wizards, (but especially witches), shouldn't take any chances. It didn't help that she was fresh out of a horrifying war (that she had played a key role in, and quite a dangerous one at that) and that she still had the instincts to show for it. Sometimes it came in handy, like when she was walking alone in an alleyway or something. In moments like that, she could easily scare her attackers with her quick and deadly reflexes, but sometimes it was less helpful, like when an innocent person walked up silently behind her, and ended up getting a face full of wand.

Before coming to Hogwarts to finish her education, she had had nightmares every night, about the most horrible things, almost all from the war. She hated to admit it, as she thought it sounded a bit selfish, but the nightmare that haunted and scared her the most was the one where she was laying in the Malfoy's sitting room being tortured, and Ron, Harry and Dobby never came to save her. Another one of her recurring nightmares, which was only slightly less terrifying to her than being tortured, was winning the war, returning to her parents to restore their memory, and finding out that it was impossible.

She had actually had many sleepless nights about it before she went to them, and she was almost senseless with joy when her spell, carefully crafted by herself to return her parents memory exactly as they were, worked. Though she had been lucky in real life, she knew that it could easily have turned out quite differently. It was that 'what if' that kept her up at night, and she had never told anyone about that, as she was too embarrassed by her senseless worrying over something that had already happened.

Hearing footsteps coming toward her from behind, she spun around, wand out and book bag coming up to shield her from whatever, or, more likely, whoever, was coming down the corridor.

Coming out from behind the bend in the corridor, Neville paused when he saw Hermione's threatening stance, and held up his hands reassuringly, saying, "whoah, it's just me, Hermione, don't worry."

Seeing Neville with his hands up and anxious expression, it broke through the state of concentration she went in to when threatened, and she relaxed, lowering her wand and book bag and taking a big breath. Blushing and awkwardly tucking her wand away and out of sight, she said, "oh, Neville, I'm sorry, I didn't see you there. It's just, you know, instinct," she finished lamely, waiting for him to frown at her and call her weird.

Instead, he smiled softly, walking towards her and falling into step beside her, saying, "don't worry, we all have our little quirks left over." His voice turned grim, losing the playful tone, "me, for instance. I still struggle sitting in the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. Also, I really, really, really hate the dungeons. I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm always asking to go out of the room in Potions."

Hermione smiled up at Neville, grateful for his attempt to make her feel less awkward, and said, "thanks, that, that actually makes me feel better. And by the way, yes, I have noticed that you go out of Potions every little while. In fact," here her tone turned awkward once more, and a little shy, almost inaudible, but she persevered. She was determined to prove to Ginny that she did, in fact, have enough guts to say something and that she didn't need Ginny's interference, (she was firmly convinced that Ginny had something planned for the weekend, and she didn't want to give Ginny a chance to interfere in her life. She hated interference in her life), "I've been noticing quite a bit about you, recently."

It took a moment for the full impact of Hermione's words to sink in, but once it did, Neville turned around, eyes wide and questioning, with a tiny bit of incredulous and disbelieving hope mixed into it, and said, "Well, I- I've been noticing quite a bit about you as well. I've been- I've been noticing it for a while now."

He blushed bright red after uttering those words, and looked very relieved to see the portrait of the Fat Lady before them, so that he didn't have to say anything else for the moment. Giving the password to a smirking Fat Lady (he never did like her, not since the day she had locked him out of the Gryffindor tower in First Year, although he knew that it was just a safety precaution), he gestured for Hermione to climb in, before following behind her.

After entering the common room, they stood and looked at one another a bit awkwardly, until Neville took a deep breath, and, looking terrified out of his wits, his eyes very wide and a faint trembling visible in his big hands, asked, all in one rush, "WouldyouliketogowithmetoHogsmeadetomorrow?"

He looked petrified, and before Hermione could help herself, she let out a little giggle, causing Neville to blush furiously, looking incredibly uncomfortable. Taking pity on him, and a little embarrassed that she had laughed at him, she said, "I'm sorry I laughed at you Neville, I honestly didn't mean anything by it, and yes," here she swallowed and looked around the common room, certain that one specific set of eyes would be fixated on her, "I would love to go with you to Hogsmeade tomorrow."

Smiling at her, cheeks still flushed, Neville said, "ah, um, great! That's, that's great. I- I'll meet you in the Great Hall tomorrow morning?"

Hermione nodded her assent, and watched him walk away with a smile, before turning around. Walking toward the fire, she allowed herself to look into the expectant and inquiring eyes of Ginny, Harry and Ron (who had both noticed Ginny's stare when Hermione and Neville had come into the common room, and were now just as curious as she was). Plopping down on the seat next to Ron, she said, fighting the laughter that was threatening to bubble up, "what?"

Beating the other two to it, Ginny demanded, "what was that? Did he ask you to Hogsmeade? Did he? Did you say yes?"

Now completely unable to stop her laughter, Hermione just nodded, watching with amusement as Ginny's face lit up first with joy and amazement at Neville actually having the pluck to ask Hermione out, and then became indignant that her brilliant plan was completely unnecessary.

Still laughing, Hermione choked out, "did you really think I was going to let you plan my love life Ginny?"

Mumbling something about how it would've taken ages for Hermione to do anything on her own if Ginny herself hadn't said anything, Ginny smiled at her, looking genuinely happy for her friend.

Laughing at Ginny, Ron, between Harry and Ginny's exclamations and Hermione's pleas for them to quieten down, as she was sure the whole common room was staring at them, said, "well, you didn't really expect Hermione to let anybody else rule her life for her, did you Ginny? I mean, we are talking about Hermione Granger here, you know. Speaking of love life," Ron said, turning to Hermione, "I know that I promised you a book, but since we both have a date, would you consider putting it off until the weekend after."

Hermione nodded, before asking him who he planned to take on a date. On finding out that he was taking Padma on a date, she got a thoughtful expression on her face, mixed with a bit of dislike, before it cleared and she was able to say with real pleasure, that she was glad for them.

Ginny, a bit out of sorts that her plan (which she was still sure was very brilliant), was now very unnecessary, said, hoping that she could still be of use in some sort of way, "so, what were you thinking of wearing?"

The sudden wide-eyed and terrified look was all the answer that Ginny needed, and she dragged off an unresisting Hermione, waving the boys away when they protested, and smiled, happy that she was still somewhat needed in Hermione's love life. She did like seeing a plan come together, and, well, even if this one hadn't come together quite as she planned it, she could still say that she had had a hand in it.


End file.
